ChitChatter: Brandy Says She’s Bringin’ Back R&B On Her New Album

Brandy previewed tracks off of her new album yesterday. The singer, along with RCA and Chameleon Records, played tracks to an intimate group of media execs, previewing 11 tracks from her upcoming album, Two Eleven, which is set to drop October 16th.

Over the course of her decades-long career, Brandy has become a woman before our eyes, outgrowing the baby-lamb naiveté of 1994’s Brandy and assuming the role of self-actualized woman (2002’s Full Moon). But it was with 2004’s Afrodisiac that she faltered in her steps, openly wallowing in a bitter divorce, before rising above the dancing flames on ’08’s Human. On Two Eleven, she juggles heartache and romantic solace, a nod to past delusions filtered through the hindsight of 33-year-old reticence.

“We gotta stick to the core, which is R&B. I got to bring you back to 2012 with hard beats, but the melodies are soft, and the content of the songs are going to be Brandy.”

Two Eleven, still a work-in-progress set to include 15 tracks, also features the Frank Ocean-written “Scared of Beautiful,” which will become a duet pending the Odd Future singer’s vocal addition. Over double-time instrumentation, Brandy stops seeking reciprocity and focuses inward. “I wonder why there’s no mirrors on these walls no more/ You can’t tell me why you’re so terrified of beautiful,” she sings. She’s looking only to herself – no man to safety-net her feelings – and she is ready to face her reflection.

We’ll have to wait a lil’ longer to hear all of the tracks but, in the meantime, check out her single, Wildest Dreams:

Brandy tweeted out thank yous to the song’s producers Tha Bizness.

They’ve done great work with Chris Brown (“Strip” “No BS”) and hopefully can do the same with Brandy’s new project.

Two Eleven, named after the singer’s B’day and the date of her mentor Whitney’s death, might just be that comeback she needs.